1

“What are we doing in a graveyard?” I eyed Kye with uncertainty as we wound through the headstones.

It had been a stressful week. Fiona and I received a summons to come to Moon, the town of the witches. These sorts of towns sat all across the United States and housed mainly the otherworldly due to the fact that the humans demanded segregation. Some of the towns allowed humans within their protective borders but Moon wasn’t one of them. It was strictly witches and hidden to look like a forest to the unknowing eye. The town wasn’t actually called Moon, its name was Latin—Per Lucem Lunae—which translated to “by the light of the moon, but it was easier for everyone to just call it Moon.

The Northern American Witches Council (NAWC) was not happy to learn vampires knew they could harvest the magic in our blood. Vampires producing magic wasn’t natural or safe. As witches we answered to the NAWC for our actions. If we use our magic for negative deeds, then we had to face the council. The vampires, though, could use our magic unrestrained without any laws governing their stolen abilities. Since the vampire council wasn’t taking action, the NAWC was.

“Practicing,” Kye answered.

As soon as Fiona and I arrived at Moon, the council paired me with Kye while Fiona was free to socialize. They were vague on why I needed to train with him which only ticked me off. It annoyed me that I was being kept in the dark for whatever reason. They were gearing up to strike back at the vampires, but I still didn’t know what part I was supposed to play in their plan. My situation was complicated further by the fact I was dating a vampire. Aiden was still in Flora, our hometown. He wasn’t happy I left for Moon without him, but it wasn’t safe for him to visit a town full of witches and warlocks—our two species weren’t on good terms at the moment.

“For what?” I asked, tired of getting vague answers. If they had plans for me, I deserved to know what they were. I wasn’t going to be a pawn in their game against the vampires.

“Anyone ever tell you that you ask too many questions?” Kye snipped.

“Anyone ever tell you that you dodge too many questions?” I retorted.

Kye turned to look at me and grinned. He was nice looking, sort of the average boy-next-door type. Spiky brown hair framed his square face. His eyes were a rich brown that reminded me of cocoa. He stood around five-foot-eleven and had a no nonsense attitude. He rubbed his hands together like he was cold and then held them over a grave like it would warm him.

“Come here,” he said. I eyed him warily but stepped closer to the weathered tombstone. The eroded words were hard to read, but I could make out the date, 1924. Moon had its own cemetery, so the body buried beneath my feet had to be a witch.

Kye knelt down, and I mimicked him. This was a crappy way to spend a Friday night but complaining wouldn’t change that, so I was quiet as I waited for him to explain what he was doing.

“Do you feel that?” he asked.

I concentrated on our surroundings and tried to figure out exactly what I was supposed to be feeling. Crickets chirped in the distance and a slight breeze blew against my face. It was the middle of November, but Moon was magically altered to feel more like spring.

“What?” I asked.

“Here,” Kye grabbed my hand and placed it on the ground.

The grass tickled my palm, and I furrowed my eyebrows, still clueless about what I was supposed to be feeling and then it happened. The ground began to vibrate. My fingers sunk lower and lower into the moist dirt. Magic prickled along my skin. My eyes widened as I watched my hand sink beneath the dirt. When Kye let go of me, I shrieked and yanked my hand away. “Wha—what was that? What happened?” I stammered.

My talents didn’t include an affinity for nature. I couldn’t manipulate the elements, so whatever happened wasn’t me. I held a combination of magic, from being able to form objects out of thin air, shoot magic from my palms and the rarest ability I had was being able to read the memories of the dead. Witches all have a specific area their good at; it was just my luck mine lay with the deceased. Ms. Ozland, a very talented spell caster from Flora, told me I was a spirit walker, but I had a hard time accepting that. Spirit walkers were witches or warlocks who could pass between our world and the ghostly realm—and control ghosts. Almost every spirit walker I ever heard of had either gone insane or been killed. The bad guys didn’t like when someone could speak to their victims. Lucky me!

“There’s a spirit hovering just beneath the ground. You could have connected with it, or you could have pulled it from its grave,” Kye explained.

My mouth hung open in disbelief. I’d been able to read the memories of the dead since I received my magic at sixteen, but I still refused to believe I was a full-fledged spirit walker.

“Why the hell would I want to do that?” I had a couple encounters with a girl who was murdered for her blood a few weeks ago, Bridget Downing, and it was scary and confusing. My plans did not include running amok in graveyards and pulling spirits from their graves, whether or not Kye wanted me to.

I stood up to leave, but a woman’s voice stopped me. “Gwen, you are more powerful than you realize.”

I turned around to find Holly, one of the council members, approaching. I dusted off my jeans and crossed my arms. I wasn’t interested in finding out just how powerful I was. All I wanted to do was head back to Flora and snuggle up with Aiden.

“Why is the council interested in my powers?”

Holly smiled, “You are going to be our secret weapon.”

When the meaning of what she said dawned on me, I was speechless. What did that even mean? I didn’t know what Holly thought I could achieve against the vampires, but I didn’t want any part of it.

“I would like to decline the offer, thanks anyway,” I said with a shaky voice.

“I wasn’t aware I gave you an option,” Holly replied. “You will fight with us.”

I stared wide-eyed. The coldness of her attitude was shocking. I had only met her one other time, when I was sixteen, and she had given me Aura, my cat and familiar. I always wondered if Holly knew what I could do even then. Aura was able to feed me energy so I could read the dead—she made me comfortable with my rare talent. Without Aura my gift might not have developed.

“And if I don’t?”

“You’ll be an outcast, stripped of our protection and knowledge,” Holly paused as she crossed her arms and cocked a brow. “Your own kind are being killed by demonic creatures, will you really stand against us because you’re sleeping with one of them?”

That was a low blow, but deep down I wondered what I would do if I wasn’t dating Aiden. Would I be gung-ho to stomp into the middle of a war? The answer was simple—no, I wouldn’t. I understood the severity of our situation and wanted nothing more than to end the fast acting vampire addiction to brew. A war, though, unsettled me, as it would any other normal person. It wasn’t like we were going to be fighting with puppies. Our enemies were hyped up vampires for goodness sakes.

It ticked me off that Holly referred to the vampires as demonic creatures. Vampires originated from the devil, true. When he was cast out of Heaven for not loving God’s children, he made children of his own, vampires. They were created to feed off of the humans God loved so much, but with the free will God bestowed in humans and evolution, the vampires evolved into more timid monsters. The virus made them allergic to the sun and hungry for lifeblood, but that was the only thing demonic about them now. Just like every other species, there were good vampires and bad ones.

“Well?” Holly asked.

I glared at her while I considered whether I wanted to go against my heritage. Without the NAWC backing me, I would be a pariah amongst my kind. I wanted to tell her that was fine with me, but I’d be lying. When I received my powers, I hated them. I lost my family because magic had chosen me. My parents were religious and thought I was evil. They kicked me out and sent me to Moon. I met Fiona here, and it was with her friendship I learned to embrace my magic. Everything I was today came from my magical roots; it wouldn’t be easy to give up, and Holly knew it. She presented the illusion of giving me the choice, but she knew I wouldn’t choose to be ostracized.

“What can I do?” I asked dumbfounded. I didn’t understand how my power for reading the dead mattered in a war against vampires. Sure there would be a lot of deaths, but did the NAWC expect me to read my fellow witches and warlocks who’d fallen in the middle of battle? That didn’t make sense.

“You can do more than you realize,” Holly smiled victoriously. “Kye is the best teacher we have; he’ll teach you how to harvest your potential. You two can pick up tomorrow, it is time for our meeting, and there is much planning to do.” Holly walked back down the path while I glared after her. When I first met her, she was nice and friendly—so much for first impressions.

*****

Everyone filed into the ballroom of the castle taking a seat amongst the rows of chairs that sat in front of a stage. Holly had left a permanent scowl on my face. I was too distracted to appreciate the beauty or the rarity of the old world castle that sat in the middle of a forest in Washington. I leaned against the interior brick wall wondering what everyone’s reaction would be to the coming news—I couldn’t be the only one against it.

Fiona’s head popped up and swiveled as she searched the crowd for me. When her eyes found mine, she waved me forward, but I shook my head. I gave her a small smile, and she shrugged and turned back around. Fiona was my best friend and my roommate. Her parents were big timers in the magical community, and therefore, Fiona was raised as a witch. She loved everything about the craft and used magic all the time. I was still learning to accept what I was. I had my powers for ten years, which may seem like a long time, but in the terms of a witch, I was still a young grasshopper. Witches, like a lot of other supernaturals had a longer lifespan. I was still a child compared to the council members who were around one hundred to two hundred in age.

The seven council members walked onto the stage in a single file line and sat. All except for Holly, who walked up to the podium. Half of her long auburn hair was drawn up with a vintage barrette, giving a clear view of her high cheekbones and alabaster skin. Her deep green eyes roamed over the crowd and settled on mine. A lump formed in my throat. Holly would make my life a living hell if I didn’t comply with her demands. She smirked at me and then looked away.